Invicta: Second Front
by StarSerpent
Summary: In 2525, the Covenant began its genocidal war against mankind. In 2541, 16 years after the start of the War, the Mars Archives are uncovered. The influx of new technologies, Human ingenuity and sheer ruthlessness helped turn the tide, turning a massacre into a bloody stalemate. It is now 2557, and the discovery of a Mass Relay leading to Unexplored Space will change everything. AU.
1. Prologue

It is the year AD 2557. For more than three decades, the Human race engaged in a state of total war with the alien Covenant. The first sixteen years of warfare saw Humanity pushed to the brink, their technological and martial prowess outmatched by the Covenant's. Hundreds of Human Outer Colonies were glassed in those dark decades. The tides eventually changed with the discovery of the Mars Archive in 2541, occurring entirely by accident. The hybridization of Mass Effect and homegrown technologies was the largest scientific endeavor of the decade. The UNSC's fleets, under the leadership of Admiral Cole, earned their first true victories in the coming years, leading to the capture of several Covenant starships. In those years, the distinction between the UNSC and the Human race disappeared, with the UEG dismantled. Mankind would be fully committed to survival and victory in this genocidal war.

Mass Relays leading far away from the Covenant advance were mapped, with Humanity gaining a refuge, a Haven, from the alien horde. Taking inspiration partly from the Soviet Union's actions during the Second World War, Humanity began a mass evacuation of the remaining Outer Colonies and whatever industry remained there to the new Haven Sector. The abandoned Outer Colonies were then turned into fortresses to delay the Covenant forces.

Prowlers then probed the systems thought to have a Covenant presence, deploying NOVA bombs whenever feasible.

Eleven billion Humans and nine billion Covenant aliens have died in the brutal and bloody conflict, with the death toll all but guaranteed to climb higher.

Now, sixteen years after Humanity began pushing back, the battlefront has solidified. A tense stalemate exists, with Covenant fleets being brought to the front, and Human fleets being churned out as fast as humanly possible. Skirmishes on the militarized Outer Colonies, now renamed the Fortress Holdouts, constantly remind the Human race that the war is not over- not by a long shot.

In search of new avenues of attack, and to showcase the worthiness of the Jiralhanae Brutes, the Covenant's new Scout Fleet, under Brute control, are deployed. At the same time, the UNSC Prowler _Sargasso _is deployed to investigate a Mass Relay near the frontlines, dangerously close to the suspected location of the Covenant fleet bases.

It's an all around powder keg, and the puniest lighted splint is all that is needed to set it off.

* * *

Continued AN: It's short, but that's because this technically isn't really a first chapter, more of a teaser. Leave a review if you want, follow if you desire, and favorite if you like it. Now, I'd like to point out that is IS NOT 'The Reclaimer Effect.' I'm aiming for something different, and hopefully something that you guys will enjoy. I'd also like to point out that this is AU. Very, very AU. Halo actually didn't happen, so there's going to be no Forerunner influences for the foreseeable future.

Like 'The Reclaimer Effect', I won't be posting the Timeline on this fic or do an infodump. There will be a Codex/Encyclopedia for that.


	2. Chapter 1: Arrival

UNSC _Sargasso  
_Brute Scout Fleet Rendezvous System  
January 9, AD 2557

Captain Vladimir Alenko was, unlike most of his crew, not a native of Sargasso. The vast majority of the _Sargasso_'s crew complement had watched as their homeworld was burned down around them, too young to do anything about it. Some of them had witnessed the Covenant brutally murder their parents and older siblings, and a significant portion of that number had been forced to watch as the Brute-led aliens proceeded to eat the corpses of their families. Experiences like that fostered intense hatred and loathing of all Covenant species- the shipboard celebrations after they NOVA Bombed a Covenant colony of fifty million were frankly disturbing to Alenko, due to the genuine cheer all of them had felt. A hit of a button, the deaths of tens of millions, and not a single regret over it- that was how the _Sargasso_ crew thought of aliens, the Covenant in particular.

Alenko tended to not dwell over such thoughts, but their current mission was one that brought them to mind, if only because such thoughts were the root cause of his ship becoming a powder keg of tensions.

The _Sargasso_ had been assigned to watch over the movements of the Covenant Scout Fleet by Lord Hood himself, and though Alenko wasn't one to be insubordinate, he honestly wondered if Hood had signed the order by accident (or worse). The _Sargasso_ was renowned throughout the Navy for being their only Prowler (the rest were spook-run ships), and one with an outrageously high kill count. This was the ship you sent when you wanted a Covenant world to disappear forever in a violent, murderous and explosive fashion, not the ship you sent to observe a Covenant fleet.

It wasn't that the ship didn't have the capabilities for shadowing a fleet. As a new _Wraith_-class Prowler Corvette, the _Sargasso_ was more than capable of evading Covenant sensor systems. It was built to spec, and given its place as the Navy's sole Prowler under their direct command, it was lovingly maintained by Navy engineers and technicians.

The reason why one should not send the _Sargasso_ to shadow a Covenant fleet was that most of its crew had the opinion that the only good Covie was a dead Covie, and preferably one that died as soon as the _Sargasso _encountered them. They'd been shadowing the fleet for over two days now, and the tension within the crew was reaching a breaking point. Alenko, for once in his life, was actually worried that the wholehearted loathing that the crew felt would overwhelm the iron discipline the Navy instilled in every crewman.

"Slipspace rupture detected!" alerted one of the sensor technicians, breaking Alenko out of his reverie. "Estimated three to five new contacts, CRS-class signature matches!"

Before he could respond, another technician spoke up. "Main Scout Fleet has begun accelerating, course change detected in new contacts- they're going to meet near the Relay. Covenant ships near to the Relay are not moving."

Alenko grunted in acknowledgement. It seemed like the Covenant was going to bite the bullet and investigate the dormant Mass Relay the system held. They already knew about the Mass Relay in the system since they had a small contingent investigating it, but it was pointed away from UNSC Space, and thus wasn't of immediate concern to HIGHCOM. However, it would still mean that the Covies would be aware of the Relay Network, especially if they managed to activate it. That was something that HIGHCOM had planned for, although they would have preferred it if Covenant stayed ignorant of the Network.

"How long until they merge and hit the Relay?" asked Alenko as he began to bring up the system charts on his monitor, his movements swift and efficient.

"Estimated two hours- scratch that, Slipspace micro-jumps detected," the officer in charge of the sensors section replied calmly, reading off her monitor as she did so. "Covenant fleet exited Slipspace near the Relay, they'll hit it in ten minutes. Relay's still inactive though."

"Helmsman, get us to that Relay, full stealth thrust," he ordered, thoughts now churning in his mind. The Prowler began moving in the direction of the Mass Relay on the power of its sublight engines, while keeping hidden from Covenant sensors.

* * *

_Reverent Starlight  
_Brute Scout Fleet Rendezvous System  
January 9, AD 2557

Alpha Captain Marus eyed the screen with unease. He was the overall commander of the Jiralhanae Scout Fleet, a milestone in their history. For that, he was prideful of his role, but the tasks bestowed upon him by the High Prophets were not easy.

The Prophets wanted him to find the location of unfortified Human worlds, so that they might force the blasted pests to move off their frontline fortress worlds. They also wanted better star maps for the area, which was a given considering the fact that they were meant to be a scouting force.

Those Prophets, however, did not tell him anything of artifacts three times the size of a CAS-class Assault Carrier. Although it was standard operating procedure for the Covenant to destroy any space-borne pieces of technology that were not blessed by the Forerunners, this artifact had negated the continuous fire of a dozen frigates and destroyers for twelve hours, all the while keeping dormant and showing no sign of damage.

Such resilience could only be explained by the blessing of the Forerunners, regardless of the artifact's lack of holy glyphs. As a show of penance, Marus had the gunners who fired on the Holy Artifact executed, and called for the rest of his Scout Fleet. And a true fleet it was! Crewed largely by Jiralhanae with the usual contingents of Kig-Yar and Unggoy (the latter of which served as both crew and the occasional snack), the Scout Fleet marked the beginning of a glorious change in the Covenant- that of Jiralhanae ascendance. Centered around his CCS-class Battlecruiser _Reverent Starlight_, the Fleet also contained four CPV-class Destroyers, eight CAR-class Frigates, ten CFG-class Frigates and fifteen CRS-class Light Cruisers. It was the single largest Jiralhanae-controlled fleet in the entire Covenant, and it was under _his_ full command.

As the last of the Fleet had arrived, they began to make their way to the Artifact, intending on awakening it to listen to the holy messages that the Forerunners may have left behind.

"Prolocutor Karthus, broadcast the Forerunners' Hymn to the Holy Artifact," he ordered as the _Starlight_ closed the distance.

"It will be done, Alpha," replied the Prolocutor, reverence in his voice as the Forerunners' Hymn began playing in the background while transmitting to the Artifact.

The screen was focused on the Artifact, its two-pronged shape giving it a different feel from the other Holy Forerunner artifacts he had the pleasure of viewing in the past. A blue glow sparked to life in the center of the Artifact as the Hymn was broadcasted to the Artifact, and metallic rings began spinning around the blue glow at a steadily increasing speed.

"Energy spikes detected!" an awe-filled voice that belonged to a Jiralhanae Minor at the Sensors Screen called out.

A grin crossed Marus' face as he saw the Holy Artifact awaken through the shipboard camera feeds. It would seem like the Forerunners have responded to their prayer.

"Blessed be the Forerunners," he intoned, the creed being echoed by the entire Bridge crew seconds later. The Scout Fleet continued their advance onto the Artifact, some of the ships increasing their speed as excitement overtook their helmsmen.

"Alpha, the Holy Artifact has begun drawing us to it on its own power!" an awestruck Jiralhanae reported as he began feeling the pull of the Artifact on the vessel.

Before he could respond, white lances of what looked like lightning struck out from the Artifact, hitting the ships in the Scout Fleet.

Marus would have began preaching of the great Forerunners deigning to touch Jiralhanae-crewed ships at that moment, but the feeling of a sudden pull caught those words as they were about to exit his maw. The great acceleration practically caused everyone who wasn't strapped into fall backwards- and in Marus' case, backwards into a terminal hard enough to knock him out cold.

* * *

Kria, Aephus  
Destrius System  
January 9, AD 2557

Senior Captain Mikhal Victus suppressed the groan of annoyance that threatened to escape him as he watched Aephus' Chieftain carry out a battle of words against the Quarian delegate. It was clear that the chieftain was only stalling to wrangle out better terms from the Migrant Fleet, but the Quarian delegate wasn't budging.

The Migrant Fleet Mining Corporation was registered on Illium as a corporate mining interest, but anyone with half a brain cell could tell that they were merely Fleet miners that operated under a corporate identity because it was simpler that way.

As it was, Victus thought that the deal was fair enough. In exchange for being given a mining contract in the Destrius Outer Belt, the miners would pay a hefty fee in addition to 25% of the resources that they mined- resources that would feed the Aephus Orbital Fleet Shipyards.

The Quarian delegate- his name was Zorah, if Victus remembered the introductions correctly- shot back a tirade at the Chieftain, although Victus wasn't paying attention to the conversation anymore. In truth, there was little point in his presence here, other than to present an intimidation factor.

'I thought only Asari could argue on and on…' Victus thought snidely as the chieftain interrupted Zorah. If he were a betting man, Victus would have put his credits on Zorah winning. The Chieftain was already getting to his limits, although a non-Turian would find it hard to notice.

The Senior Captain nearly let out a sigh of relief as his omni-tool beeped, interrupting the negotiations.

"What's going on, Captain?" Chieftain Visilix Andarius growled out.

A quick skim of the message told the Senior Captain everything he needed to know, and he inwardly cursed at his wish for something interesting to happen.

"The sentry frigate at the dormant Relay just sent a message requesting backup," he replied, while forwarding the message to the Chieftain's 'tool. A soft notification sound confirmed that the Chieftain had received it. "With your permission, sir, I'll take the First Squadron and jump to the Relay. I'll leave Second behind here with Kovax in command. He'll know what to do."

"Go, Victus," Andarius ordered, before turning to Zorah. "It would seem like a recess is in order."

Victus had begun his brisk walk to the door as soon as the Chieftain had said 'go'.

* * *

PFS _Dutiful  
_Destrius System  
January 9, AD 2557

The Primarch's Fleet Starship _Dutiful_ was a _Virtue_-class Cruiser, one that had been built in the Aephus Orbital Fleet Shipyards. It was an old ship, but one that was relatively well-maintained. Hierarchy Engineering Corps were not slackers, especially not when it came to cruisers.

Clocking out at six hundred meters, the _Dutiful_ and its two sister ships, the _Virtue_ and _Honorbound_ were the heavyweights of the Aephus Defense Fleet, which also contained twelve frigates and ten corvettes. It was a small force, one that was more suited to antipiracy and customs operations rather than actual combat, but few raiders would be willing to attack a Turian world, especially this close to the Core Systems. Palavan, after all, was merely two Relays away.

"Sir," Junior Captain Valis, the Commanding Officer of the _Dutiful_, greeted him as he stepped out of the airlock. "I gave the word as soon as your shuttle docked. We'll be jumping to the _Watchful_ in…"

Valis consulted his omni-tool for a second. "...two minutes."

"Well done, Valis," Victus commended his subordinate. Initiative was always good, at least in his book. He knew a few of the more 'traditional' commanders would have rebuked their subordinates if they had done anything without their explicit approval, but those dinosaurs also tended to never be promoted.

"Thank you sir," Valis responded, his subharmonics trilling with a small amount of pride. "If you'd follow me…"

The walk to the CIC (Combat Information Center) was thankfully brief. Victus quickly dismissed the two shipboard marines guarding the entrance as they saluted him.

"Helmsman, report!" Valis ordered as he took command of the ship.

Victus tuned out the helmsman's response, and headed towards the communications console, allowing his subordinate to handle the ship while he commanded the squadron.

The comms technician was about to stand up to salute when Victus neared, but the Senior Captain waved it off.

"Give me a report on the squadron."

"Yes sir," the technician replied. "Three frigates and five corvettes jumped with us. The corvettes are spread out to serve as forward scouts, while the frigates are clustered around us. The _Watchful_\- that's our sentry frigate- reported anomalous readings coming from the Relay approximately seven minutes ago."

The comms technician was about to continue when the sensors operator cried out in alarm.

"Captain, the Relay is activating!" his tone held a slight amount of panic. It was understandable enough, Victus supposed, since no one had activated a Relay in the millennia after the Rachni War.

"Squadron commanders report the same thing, sir," the comms technician added as soon as the sensors operator finished.

"Pull the _Watchful_ back, and send an FTL Comm Burst to Aephus!" Victus ordered, already formulating a plan of action. "Tell Captain Kovax to put the Colony Garrison on high alert, on my authority."

"Sir," the technician acknowledged.

In the background, alarms began to blare and the dull monotone of the ship's VI filled the air.

"All hands to Battle Stations, all hands to Battle Stations. This is not a drill."

The crew was suiting up now, their pace almost frantic as they put on exo-suits and breather masks. Victus knew that the scene would be reenacted all over the squadron.

"Energy spikes, coming from the Relay!" another sensor operator shouted out. "Estimate thirty-plus contacts!"

Everyone knew what that meant- ships, and a lot of them. They were going to be outnumbered.

Every crew member had been seated now at their consoles, strapped in and suited up. Victus quickly moved to a command console, one that was right beside Captain Valis' own, and strapped himself in. The haptic interface quickly booted up, showing him the feeds from Sensors and Communications.

Victus did not have to wait long for a new development to arise.

"Contacts detected exiting FTL…" the sensors operator trailed off there, his subharmonics trilling with trepidation and awe.

"Spirits…" the comms technician that Victus had talked to earlier muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

"Report, now!" Victus growled. Shock was understandable, becoming a liability as a result of shock was _not_.

"Dreadnoughts!" the sensors operator was the first to recover. "Thirty-eight contacts detected exiting FTL, and twenty-three of them are spirits-damned dreadnoughts!"

At that, an icy cold feeling of dread overwhelmed Senior Captain Mikhal Victus.

* * *

AN:

We don't actually know Alenko's dad's name in ME, so I cooked up one on my own. Sargasso was an actual canon colony, and it was glassed. While it didn't get glassed here, most of its populace was killed (info in Timeline).

Canonically, the Great Schism _should_ have happened by now, but since the events of Halo never came to pass the Elites and Brutes aren't killing each other yet at this point. The Brutes are, however, being given more influence  
CFG-class Frigates are my name for the unnamed Covenant Frigate class (they're 1000 meters long, and appear in several Halo books). We weren't given dimensions for CAR-class Frigates either, so I'll stick with the trend and put them at 1000 or so meters.

Mikhal Victus is NOT Adrien Victus, before any of you flame me for using the wrong name.  
Aephus is a canon Turian colony, although it's only mentioned in passing during ME3. Cerberus captured it, and the Turians reclaimed it there. There was no hard data on Aephus, other than it had shipyards and heavy manufacturing capabilities.  
PFS is an actual Turian naval ship designation, referred to by Lt. Cortez in ME3. Pause at 0:18 of video. Link (delete spaces): youtube watch?v=J2ocu_JAhpU

As a piece of trivia, did you guys know that the Reaper War started in September 2186 (between the 14th and the 21st)? Bioware's Blog posted a few 'news' articles about it.

And before I forget- names. It's a tad annoying when I read Halo and Mass Effect Fics where everyone is from the US and the UK. If you can, shoot me a PM with character names and a short description. African (specify ethnicities too if possible), Hispanic and Asian (Chinese, Japanese and Indian especially) names would be greatly appreciated.

Leave a review if you can. Constructive criticism appreciated, flames aren't. Anon flamers will have their review hijacked and replaced with ABBA song lyrics, while registered flamers will be reported.


End file.
